This Tuesday, President Obama announced an escalation of American military presence in Afghanistan. The President plans to deploy another 30,000 troops to the region by summer, with the first of the soldiers heading out around the holidays. Merry Christmas, Marines!

At the same time, he spoke openly about bringing the troops home by July of 2011. While algebra was most definitely not my forte in high school, these numbers look suspect even to me. The influx of new troops into Afghanistan brings the grand total of the American force in the region to about 100,000. That’s excluding the 100,000 situated in Iraq, mind you. At best, Obama’s promised pullout date is foolish, naïve optimism. At worst, it’s a boldfaced lie.

Although he’d hardly be the first president to fudge the details of foreign military involvement, I’m inclined to discount the former explanation, for while Obama comes across as an idealist, he most certainly does not come across as an idiot. This is basic arithmetic here: 30,000 more troops + billions of dollars that could be spent more wisely (Education! Healthcare! Please?) does not equal 100,000 troops home in time for the 4th of July 2011.

I’m curious to hear other thoughts on this. Is Obama just committing political slight of hand, distracting us with his undeniably eloquent rhetoric while continuing to pursue the foreign policy agenda of previous administrations? Or is there merit to his strategy of buildup that I’m missing here?